Guest Editorial: No place safe in America

A "little country school," is how one parent described it. "The safest place in America,'' said a resident of the town.

But now the people of Newtown, Conn. knows what the rest of the country is learning. There is no safe place in America, not a Connecticut elementary school classroom, not an Oregon shopping mall, not a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin and not a Colorado cinema where excited moviegoers gathered to watch "Batman."

There is no safe place in America while the country remains awash in high-powered firearms in the hands of individuals bent on senseless, massive slaughter. No place is safe as long as the voice of gun fanatics, represented by the National Rifle Association, drowns out the voice of the sane pleading for reasonable limits on access to high-powered weapons of destruction.

Friday, the horror hit Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown where a gunman opened fire on students as young as five years old, killing 20 children and six adults before taking his own life. According to news reports:

? Children huddled in school closets, hearing the screams of classmates over the intercom.

? Parents rushed to the scene to witness state troopers carrying out children who appeared dead or critically injured.

? Veteran firefighters broke down in tears upon entering the elementary school and seeing the slain and injured children and adults.

? Children herded outside to safety were directed to hold hands and close their eyes as they passed through the carnage.

Just 10 days before Christmas, the latest mass shooting in a numbingly familiar series of such shootings unfolded in a small-town elementary school that became a scene of slaughter.

The typical expressions poured forth from public officials: shock, grief, horror and sympathy for survivors. But absent from the discussion in the past has been support for reasonable limits on public access to firearms.

An exception has been New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a staunch supporter of gun control who this summer called out the two presidential candidates for utterly failing to address the issue following the Colorado theater shooting that killed 12.

"Soothing words are nice, but maybe it's time the two people who want to be president of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it because this is obviously a problem across the country," he said.

He was met with silence by the candidates, Republican Mitt Romney and Democrat Barack Obama, who later won re-election to a second term.

But President Obama hinted at a change of attitude Friday when, clearly shaken, he addressed the media wiping tears from his eyes and at times, pausing to regain his composure.

"Our hearts are broken today - for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost," he said.

"As a country, we have been through this too many times. Whether it's an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago - these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children. And we're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics."

The NRA and its supporters are rich, powerful and ruthless. But this country must tolerate such mass violence no longer.

If there were ever a time for "meaningful action," it is now.

Let us hope this tragedy, the slaughter of small children and their teachers in "the safest place in America," at last will move will move the President and the rest of the country to take meaningful action against the scourge of gun violence that has left no safe place in this country.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Email this article

Guest Editorial: No place safe in America

A 'little country school,' is how one parent described it.

A link to this page will be included in your message.

Join Our Team!

If you are interested in working for an innovative media company, you can learn more by visiting: